Image Gallery

Upcoming David Choe Lecture: October 17th

Imprint Culture Lab presents artist David Choe for an intimate hour discussing his work, passions, and future in illustration. Choe will speak at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy on Thursday, October 17th at 12 pm. Address: 111 North Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90012.

“David Choe (Los Angeles, 1976) is an american artist, born and raised in California, EEUU, with korean parents. He is one of the most controversial contemporary artists. Known for his ‘dirty style’ –raw and frenetic. His work combines desire, degradation and exaltation. In his own words: ‘The dirty style is all about painting stories with marks, stains, and create more stories in the middle of that mess.’ For Choe, dirt could create something beautiful that could came out of the darkness. His paintings are the result of pure and frentic energy. The fusion of different media and experimental techniques make his work unique. His main inspiration has been the versatility of graffiti. His work includes canvas, paper and wood, also a wide variety of materials such as crayon, oil, acrylic, pen, watercolor and spray paint. Choe has a history linked to rebellion and crime. In his youth, the artist had several altercations with authority and he spent time in jail for his outbursts and illegal graffiti.

In 2003, he traveled to Japan to present an exhibition and he kicked a police officer. He was arrested and spent three months in jail. During that time, he made a series of 600 portraits and erotic drawings, using materials such as soy sauce, tea, blood and urine. Once released and back in San Jose, California, Choe began the task of rebuilding himself from the ground up, focusing on his career and channeling his self-destructive impulses into less risky pursuits such as gambling and drumming. Harry Kim documented his life in the film 'Dirty Hands' and his irreverence was also portrayed in the hit web series VBS.TV (Vice) Thumbs Up! Nowadays he is the producer and host of the podcast DVDASA ‘Double Vag, Double Anal, Sensitive Artist’, co-staring with a porn star, Asa Akira (No.1 U.S. health podcast)

His international recognition grew exponentially in 2005, when he painted the offices of the newly created Facebook. Sean Parker and Mark Zuckerberg commissioned Choe to paint some walls, in Palo Alto, California. They offered two alternatives, as a compensation for their services. Receive an amount of money in cash, or receive that money in financial stocks on Facebook. He chose to receive company stock in lieu of cash payment for the murals. Choe were valued at approximately $200 million dollars on the eve of Facebook’s 2012. Also, that’s way Choe is, nowadays, the world’s highest-paid graffiti artist in history. In 2008 Choe painted a portrait of then-Senator Barack Obama, for use in a grassroots street art campaign. The original painting is in the White House and it’s one of President Obama’s favorites artworks. David Choe's work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in Barcelona, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Los Angeles, New York, Afghanistan, Dubai, Colombia and Copenhagen. On August 17th 2013 David Choe will present his new exhibition in Mexico City: SNOWMONKEYBBQ.” – David Choe